Preview of The Cerulean Wyvern
by Leonineus
Summary: Preview of The Cerulean Wyvern story I put forwards as an idea. Try it out, see what you think, and put forwards a review for me telling me your thoughts on what you think of it. I relish your opinions. Enjoy!


The Cerulean Wyvern

**(A/N: Hey all, Leonineus here. I'm posting what I currently have on the three fics I've written with the intention of possibly writing following the completion of _Both Sides of the Kunai_. I hope you enjoy this fic, and please drop me a review telling me your views so that I know which fic people _really_ want me to write once I have completed _Both Sides of the Kunai. _Let me impress; this is like when I wanted everybody's feedback on whether I should do the fight scene with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. About forty people sent me answers to that single question; I sincerely hope that people will do the same with this. Leonineus, out.)**

**(A/N: I will also need people to advise me as to what they want the pairing to be in this story if they decide they want this story to be the one I write after _Both Sides of the Kunai_. I was thinking possibly Tenten since Naruto has become something of a weapons-user like her. Hell, I might even make Naruto a bit of a mercenary for Konoha and he ends up going on the mission to the Land of Snow and starts liking Koyuki. It is your option, though I personally like either Tenten or Koyuki, maybe even both. Maybe Tenten and Naruto start liking each other and get together, then Naruto gets the mission to the Land of Snow and the pair of them get to know Koyuki, then Tenten and Koyuki agree to share, I don't know. It's your choice.)**

Prologue

_In Uzushiogakure no Sato, hidden deep under the ruins of the village, twelve people sat around a large table. One of them sat forwards, pushing a file into the middle of the table so that the one directly opposite him could take it. "Is this him?" said the second figure, a woman by her voice._

"_Yes," said the first figure, a man with a deep voice, "This is the last Uzumaki we know of that currently dwells outside the village. His name is…"_

"…_Naruto," finished the woman. Violet eyes glittered from beneath the hood, and two long dark red bangs dropped from below the shadow of her hood. "His name is Naruto."_

_The man nodded quietly, "Alright. Well, he might be the child capable of leading us back into the light."_

_The woman nodded, tilting her head to one side as she examined the picture of the boy in front of her. _"He looks just like Minato-kun," _she thought, _"…my son."

_Kushina Uzumaki gazed down at the picture of her son for a long moment before she said, "Very well. Dispatch a team to Konohagakure to retrieve Naruto and bring him back here."_

_As the man nodded and walked towards the door, Kushina raised a hand, "And…" The man stopped and turned back. She raised her eyes towards him, "Be careful with him. Considering what I know him to carry, he may be suspicious of you. I don't want him badly hurt; we need him."_

_The man nodded, "I will be careful with him, Kushina-sama."_

Chapter One: The Legacy Begins

Naruto Uzumaki was running down the street, trying to escape yet another mob trying to beat him up. He rounded a corner, sprinted into an alley… and ran headlong into several figures. Stumbling backwards and falling onto the ground, Naruto looked up and caught a glimpse of several hitai-ate underneath their hoods.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" said one.

Naruto looked round at the man who had spoken, "Yes?"

The man crouched down to Naruto's level, "How old are you?"

Naruto grinned, "Seven and a half!"

The hooded figures looked at each other, "Just the right age…" mused one.

Naruto looked up at them with a puzzled expression, "What?"

One of the figures crouched down and looked at Naruto from under his hood, "Naruto, would you prefer to come with us, somewhere where you can learn without being chased like this?"

Naruto looked up, "You can do that?"

The man smiled, his teeth shining from under the hood, "Yes."

Naruto grinned, standing up, "Let's go then!"

As the mob rounded the corner, they were just in time to see the demon brat vanish, surrounded by people.

As the mob dispersed, a single shinobi stayed, staring at the spot where the demon brat had vanished, wondering how he would explain that Naruto Uzumaki was gone.

-TCW-

Kushina Uzumaki was sitting at her desk in the head office of the Uzumaki clan's subterranean compound when the door opened and four figures hustled a much smaller one through the door. Kushina looked up and her jaw dropped. She had seen the pictures of her son, knew how like her husband he looked, but even she was not prepared for really meeting him. It was like she had flashed back to her Academy days, and was looking at the man she had married as a child once again. Standing, she quickly walked around the table, dismissing the men who had brought him, and knelt in front of him, "You are Naruto?"

The boy nodded, looking a little petulant. A second later, Kushina hugged him tightly.

He fought his way free, "What's your problem, lady?"

Kushina sat back on her knees, looking at the blonde, "You don't recognize me, do you Naruto? Of course, you wouldn't; you were but a newborn baby the last time I saw you."

Naruto looked even more puzzled, "But why… no it can't be possible… k-kaa-san?"

Kushina smiled, "You remember me?"

Naruto shook his head, "I don't, I just… know."

Kushina pulled Naruto over to a settee in the corner. Naruto climbed into his mother's lap, "Kaa-san?"

"Yes, Naruto?" she murmured, wrapping her arms around Naruto.

"What am I going to learn here? The people who picked me up said I was going to learn some special stuff while I was here."

Kushina looked down at her son, "Naruto, do you know who your father is?"

Naruto shook his head, before his eyes fell upon a picture on a side table. His mother, looking heavily pregnant, standing with a man that Naruto remembered seeing the face of every day, carved in stone on the cliff above Konohagakure; the Yondaime Hokage.

He reached over and picked up the picture. The stone monument above the village had been a single colour; the colour of sandstone. Now that he saw the man's face in multiple colours; he realized what he had missed. "The Yondaime is… my father?"

Kushina smiled, and Naruto dropped the picture onto the settee beside him before twisting and burying his face into his mother's shoulder, "Jiji lied to me… He told me he didn't know who my father was!"

Kushina tightened the hug around her son, "It's ok, Naruto."

Naruto looked up at her, "So, people lying to me about who my father was and if my mother was alive or not aside, what am I going to learn?"

Kushina smiled, "The Uzushiogakure no Sato's techniques, but we'll have to check your elemental affinity first, as well as hopefully Minato-kun's two signature techniques."

Naruto grinned, "Let's go then!"

Kushina held on tight as her son tried to get off her lap, "Not yet, Naruto. It's too late in the evening. Tomorrow morning, we'll start."

Naruto nodded once, but then something seemed to occur to him and he looked up at his mother, "Kaa-san?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Why so early? In Konoha, I shouldn't start at the Academy for another couple of years!"

Kushina laughed, "In Uzushio, you should've started at six. Only problem was, I was forced to leave Konoha without you after the Kyūbi's attack. The Sandaime refused to let me take you with me."

Naruto nodded, before he suddenly yawned. Kushina smiled, "I guess you're tired after the long trip, Naruto? Naruto?"

She looked down to see that the boy had already flaked out. She smiled, before laying her head down and dozing off herself.

The next day, Kushina awoke to find her son still curled up in her arms. When Naruto looked up and smiled at her, she stood up and set him down on the ground. He smiled at her, "So I'm going to be trained today?"

Kushina smiled, taking Naruto out of her office. As the door closed, Naruto saw a shiny metal plaque on it that read: KUSHINA UZUMAKI, CLAN HEAD.

Kushina led Naruto down through the tunnels to a huge cavern filled with people. As she entered one person saw her and announced, "CLAN HEAD IN THE ROOM!"

Instantly all the ninja seemed to shunshin to form several ranks in the centre. Kushina stopped, "At ease, everybody, I'm just here to show my son around."

Everybody looked at the small boy beside Kushina before smiling and separating again. Kushina approached one of them, "I need some chakra paper; I want to test my son's affinities."

The shinobi grinned at the boy before reaching into his belt pouch and drawing out a small slip of paper. He handed it to Naruto, "You know how to use this, do you kid?"

When Naruto shook his head, the shinobi sighed, "What the hell do they teach you at Konoha? When did you start the Academy?"

Naruto looked puzzled, "I don't start at the Academy in Konoha for another year and a half, sir."

The shinobi facepalmed, "For Kami's sake, Konoha really has gone downhill. I think the only decent shinobi they've had in the past three decades has been the Fourth Hokage!"

With both the shinobi's and Kushina's careful assistance, Naruto managed to channel some chakra into the paper. The paper became damp and sliced itself in half.

Kushina smiled, "Excellent, you can use our style Naruto."

The shinobi looked down at Naruto for a second before he turned back to Kushina, "Kushina-sama, you think he's capable of _those_ as well?"

Kushina smiled, "He is my husband's son, after all."

Naruto frowned, "Learn what?"

"Naruto," said Kushina, "Minato-kun came up with two unique jutsu, the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. One, the Rasengan, is the highest level of shape manipulation. You will have to practice your chakra control to a very high degree before you are able to use that jutsu."

"And the other?"

"The other is a space-time jutsu. Minato designed it and it relies heavily on an extremely intricate set of seals."

Naruto gave a broad grin, "So, when does training start?"

-TCW-

Five Years Later

The eleven genin belonging to the Konoha Eleven, as they were unofficially known, were all standing in the village square talking when three hooded figures walked up to them. The one in the middle pushed his hood back and said politely, "Excuse me, could you direct us to the visitors' quarters? We're a little lost; we're here for the Chūnin Exams."

Sakura Haruno turned to face them, "Yes of course, where… where…" Her voice trailed off. The others, noticing the pink-haired fangirl's silence, turned around. And jaws hit the floor. The person in front of them was somebody that none of them had seen for five years.

Kiba Inuzuka was the first to break the silence, "Naruto?" It was indeed Naruto Uzumaki, looking very different to how he had looked the last time they had seen him. His hair was longer, his face framed by two chin-length bangs and his fringe held out of his eyes by a hitai-ate bearing an odd spiral symbol. A long katana extended over one shoulder, the crossguard made to look like a blue dragon's head. Because he had pushed his hood back, his coat had parted from where he had been wearing it completely wrapped around him. The girls in the group immediately noticed that Naruto's body was trim and compact from what appeared to be a vigorous training regime, and he had disposed of the orange monstrosity he had worn five years ago. Now he wore a black bodysuit under a blue-grey flak jacket. The flak jacket was lined with sleeves containing odd three-pointed kunai, both on the inside and outside and a mask shaped like a wyvern's visage hung from his belt.

Hinata Hyūga, standing just behind her two team-mates, was having trouble keeping herself from drooling openly. She had her Byakugan activated and was looking under Naruto's coat at his physique.

Tenten was staring at the elegantly wrought katana over the sunshine blonde's shoulder and also trying hard not to drool. She had previously had a crush on her team-mate Neji Hyūga, but with the appearance of this person with a katana and a good few kunai on his jacket made her reconsider her options. Neji might have been a prodigy, but he was an ice-blooded jerk most of the time and Naruto now seemed as much of a weapons user as herself.

Sai was scrutinizing the boy before him and mentally making notes for Danzō later. He would be interested to know that the mysterious Uzumaki pariah had returned to the village.

Sasuke Uchiha's lip curled as he surveyed the boy he perceived to still be the same dobe he had been all those years ago, "Pfffft, you cannot have learnt anything. An idiot like you can't possibly have been capable of learning at all."

Naruto simply eyed him before saying, "Are you prepared to bet on that, Uchiha? You know, my mother used to know yours before _that_ event."

The Uchiha pulled out a kunai before charging at Naruto with a howl of rage, activating his Sharingan as he approached.

What happened next was too fast for anybody to see anything; Naruto drew one of his own kunai and flung it at the Uchiha, who ducked under it. As the kunai passed him, there was a flash of yellow light and Naruto disappeared, reappearing behind the Uchiha, plucking the kunai out of the air and twisting on the spot. Sasuke, the so-called Rookie of the Year, the last Uchiha, found himself forced to his knees with the blade of the three-pointed kunai pressed against the base of his skull. "From this position," said Naruto in a cold voice, "I could kill you with the slightest push on this kunai. Think on that for the briefest second, Uchiha. One gentle push, and there will be only two people left in the world with the Sharingan; one Itachi Uchiha and one Kakashi Hatake." With his free hand, he pulled out another kunai and threw it to his previous position between the smaller hooded figures. With another flash of yellow light, he disappeared from his position beside Sasuke and reappeared between the two hooded figures. Pocketing both kunai, he drew his coat closed, revealing something that none of them had noticed up to this point; orange flames rose from the cuffs and hem of the coat, vivid against the black material they were patterned onto. Slowly, Naruto reached down and took hold of the mask at his belt, raising it and holding it close to his face. "I am not the Naruto Uzumaki that you once knew. Now I am the Cerulean Wyvern, the champion of the Uzumaki and of Uzushiogakure no Sato that has been destroyed. I am the son of Kushina Uzumaki of Uzushiogakure no Sato and Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, and I will not suffer fools who believe they are better than me simply because they have the good fortune to have been born into a clan that possesses a powerful kekkei genkai." He turned to face Sasuke again, hanging the mask back on his belt as the black-haired genin got up, "You are weak. Having a kekkei genkai does not make you invincible; you should not limit yourself because of that."

"How would you know?" spat Sasuke, getting up and glowering at the blond, "You have no kekkei genkai, you cannot comprehend the power I have in my eyes!"

Naruto raised one eyebrow, "When did I say I didn't have a kekkei genkai? On the contrary, the Uzumaki had their own kekkei genkai, which I awakened soon after I went back home." He smiled wryly, "It's not really a kekkei genkai, more a set of techniques that you can only use if you are an Uzumaki, much like you can only use the Hyūga clan's Jyūken if you have the Byakugan. And no, before you try you cannot copy them with your Sharingan. I said that only those of Uzumaki blood may use them and I meant it. If you try to steal one of these techniques, you will fail. The Uzumaki also used to be known for their incredible skills with fūinjutsu; it was the reason that the Uzushiogakure no Sato was destroyed, all those years ago. At the moment, I can only seal equipment into scrolls, at the lack of any really experienced seal-masters to teach me. But my mother made sure I knew that much. This," he said, raising a hand to his flak jacket, "is actually impregnated with seals which allow me to replace these kunai no matter how I lose them. The storage seals inside this jacket are packed with thousands of these kunai. In fact there are so many that I can be throwing them around for days and still not run out. With such a supply, I will probably never run out. I can always make more. The seals involved are so complex that it took me months to work out the proper formula and even longer to make it do what I want. It was worth it in the end though."

"Ano…" Naruto turned his eyes to Hinata, who went red but continued, "Why are you named the Cerulean Wyvern?"

Naruto smiled, "Partly the mask, partly my sword's crossguard, but mostly because every Uzumaki's water chakra takes a different form. Mine took the form of a water wyvern, or a serpentine dragon. That is the reason for my name; the Cerulean Wyvern, because my chakra in its basest, most primal form takes the shape of a cerulean wyvern."

"Impossible," stated Neji Hyūga, folding his arms, "Chakra isn't alive. It doesn't take shapes, you're lying."

Naruto's blue eyes narrowed as he raised one open palm and muttered something. A string of blue chakra appeared in his hand. It quickly thickened, sprouting a whiskery head and small paws on a serpentine body. A second later, a miniature Chinese dragon undulated on Harry's palm, snarling at each of them in turn. Hinata stepped forwards and crouched down so that the small dragon was at eye level, activating her Byakugan and quietly examining the creature. It stretched its long neck out and sniffed her fingers curiously as she held out a hand to it.

The girl giggled uncharacteristically as the little dragon made of chakra chewed on her finger, "That tickles…"

Naruto laughed, "That'll be my wind nature, for some reason it acts as a mild aphro… aphrodee… it makes girls feel good."

Hinata went brick red as the implications of what he was saying hit her, but before she could faint with embarrassment she was shoved aside by Sakura. "You perverted…!" the pinkette shouted, flinging a punch at Naruto.

A second later, her eyes widened as the two smaller figures moved for the first time since they had first encountered Naruto; one of them catching Sakura's fist and turning her punch aside effortlessly, while the other drew a tantō from inside their plain black coat and pressed it against her neck. Sakura froze. The one holding the tantō then spoke in a quiet feminine voice, "You will not harm Naruto-sama!"

Naruto set his hand on the tantō-wielding person's shoulder and said quietly, "Manami, calm down. It wasn't like she had a hope of hitting me. You too, Hikaru!" he said, noticing that the other had his tantō out as well and seemed to be lining up a swipe at Sakura's stomach.

The two figures relaxed, each sheathing their tantō blades and pulling back their hoods.

Ino blinked behind Sakura; these two children couldn't be more than eight and yet they had disabled a genin of her own age with no visible effort. Each had the same white hair and pale yellow eyes, with a creamy complexion that made Ino inexplicably jealous. Looking at the little girl who had been revealed to be the one to place her tantō to Sakura's neck, she realized that this little girl was going to be _very _attractive once she hit puberty.

When she looked at the little boy who appeared to be the girl's twin, she found it hard not to drool. Even at eight years old the boy was a handsome specimen; with the kind of strong jaw and serious expression that some girls went nuts for, including herself.

"Ano…" murmured Hinata, looking at the twins flanking Naruto, "Naruto-kun, who are they? And why did they call you –sama?"

Naruto grinned, placing a hand on their shoulders, "These two are my students, Hikaru," he patted the boy's shoulder, "and Manami," he indicated the girl, "That was your mistake, Sakura-san. I found these two close to death while on a training run back home, and brought them back. Now I train them. These two would do anything to protect and support me. Stopping you from breaking my jaw is only a small example of what they would have to do.

Tenten spoke, "Your… students?"

Naruto nodded, grinning at her, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."

Tenten blushed as he smiled at her, "My name is Tenten."

Naruto's eyes widened, "I knew a Tenten back in the orphanage, years ago."

Tenten looked closer at him, her brown eyes widening as she recognized him, "Yes, I recognize you now! I didn't know your name was Naruto back then though, I just called you Whiskers!"

Naruto laughed, running a finger along one of the marks on his face, "I remember that. I believe I called you Panda back because of the hair buns though…" He sniggered as Tenten blushed deeper, before making her even more embarrassed by stepping forwards and giving her a big hug, "You left the orphanage one day and I never saw you again… I lost the only friend I had in that place."

Tenten nodded, "I got adopted."

Naruto nodded back, "I guessed. After a while I got used to being alone and when they kicked me out of the orphanage at six I looked for you but couldn't ever find you."

Tenten buried her face in his arm, "I wanted to look for you, but my adopted parents refused to allow me to. When I begged them to adopt you as well they told me no and said to forget about you. I never could though; my first friend was too precious a memory."

"AHHHH, TENTEN-SAN, YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE STRONG INDEED TO HARBOUR SUCH AFFECTION FOR OLD FRIENDS!" boomed a loud voice at that moment, causing Naruto and Tenten to spring apart like scalded cats.

Naruto's first impression of the man who dropped into the street next to them followed by three other Konoha jōnin was of an enormous green ape. What really caused his jaw to drop however, were the man's eyebrows. They looked like giant centipedes latched onto his face. Behind Naruto, both Hikaru and Manami dissolved into helpless sniggering.

"Gai-sensei…" Tenten said sheepishly, "Are you here to pick us up for…" She was interrupted by Kakashi Hatake, who pulled a kunai and charged at Naruto.

Naruto's hand blurred over his shoulder, drawing his katana and blocking Kakashi's stab at his chest with one hand. When the other three jōnin also adopted combat stances, Naruto stepped backwards as both Hikaru and Manami drew their tantō blades. "What the hell's your problem? Is associating with shinobi in the host village for the Chūnin Exams illegal now?" Naruto yelled furiously at Kakashi.

Kakashi levelled the kunai at Naruto, "Who are you? The last person I saw with those marks on his face is gone from this village!"

Naruto scowled, "I _am_ that person, you idiot! I am Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Liar!" yelled the only woman in the group of jōnin, "He's been dead for five years! Some of our ANBU found his jumpsuit ripped and covered in blood out in the forest!"

Naruto snorted, "You're basing my death on that? I got rid of that jumpsuit years ago! Between getting mauled by a bear out on a mission and the damn thing getting worn out from me wearing it so long it was too damaged to fix! Why I ever even wore that monstrosity I don't know!"

The last jōnin, a bearded man with a cigarette in his mouth, pulled out two trench knives and adopted a ready stance, "Be that as it may, you're coming with us. You're going to explain to the Sandaime what you're doing here!"

Naruto snorted again, "Good! I've got some questions for him!"

"Like what?" the woman asked.

"Like why he lied to me about who my father was when he _knew_ that my father was the Yondaime! Like why he never told me my mother was still alive! Like why he didn't let her take me with her when she left the village! Like why he's let Konoha become so screwed up when it comes to the shinobi! In the old times, and Uzushio did this before it was destroyed, children started training to be shinobi at six! This lot," he jerked his thumb towards the Konoha genin, "wouldn't have started here until nine!"

The bearded man scowled, "Don't presume that you know better than the Hokage!"

Naruto snorted, "I don't presume. If he is THAT useless at making a good training program for shinobi here I'm surprised that he hasn't already been replaced. Oh wait, he was, by my FATHER!"

Asuma Sarutobi was inwardly fuming; nobody had ever vilified his father so in front of him. The final insult came when the blond in front of him implied that Hiruzen Sarutobi had been useless enough to be replaced by Minato Namikaze. With a roar of anger he charged at the boy, swinging his trench knives.

They never reached their targets; each was blocked by a tantō knife before it got within five feet of Naruto's chest. Naruto simply smirked and kicked Asuma Sarutobi hard in the chest, sending him flying backwards into his comrades.

Kakashi Hatake reached into his belt pouch and pulled several kunai. "If you really are Minato-sensei's son, then you'll know both his nickname and the names of his two original jutsu!"

Naruto folded his arms, "His nickname is Arashi and the two original jutsu he created are the Rasengan and the Hiraishin, both of which I am capable of performing though I have not yet succeeded in managing to combine the Rasengan with my wind-natured chakra yet."

Kakashi scowled under his mask, "Fine. I believe you. You will however still come to the Hokage's office and explain where you have been for five years."

Naruto smirked, "Sorry, I'm not under any obligation to do that as a shinobi visiting to participate in the upcoming Chūnin Exams."

Kakashi looked as though he was going to argue, but then said, "Fine, then we will bring the Hokage to you, Naruto. He will want to know where you've been and what you've been doing!"

Naruto replied, "Which he doesn't necessarily have to know."

Kakashi was now looking somewhat angry at the blonde's rebelliousness, "Naruto, don't make me call the ANBU."

Naruto looked smug, "And how would an attack on a foreign shinobi look to the other Hidden Villages who are sending their shinobi here for the Chūnin Exams? It wouldn't look good at all, would it? I know for a fact that Iwa wouldn't like it at _all_."

Kakashi growled, knowing that the boy was telling the truth.

Things probably would have devolved even further from that point, but Manami chose that moment to step between Naruto and Kakashi and say, "Naruto-sama, we need to get going. We need to find the visitors' quarters."

Naruto nodded, "Ok, Manami, let's go. Guys, it was nice to see you again." He walked off.

There was silence among the Konoha shinobi for a long minute before Kakashi swore and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The four genin kunoichi simply stared after Naruto, thinking.

-TCW-

"What?" shouted Sarutobi incredulously as he stared at Kakashi Hatake opposite him, "Naruto's back?"

Kakashi nodded, scowling under his mask, "Yes. He doesn't seem anything like the Naruto you once knew, however. He's… very… different."

Sarutobi frowned, "Where is he?"

Kakashi folded his arms, "The visitor's quarters. I didn't recognize his hitai-ate, it was a spiral symbol."

Sarutobi's eyebrows drew together, "I think I know the symbol you are thinking of. I must go see Naruto."

He swept out of the room.

-TCS-

In the visitors' quarters, Naruto was sitting down when there was a knock at the door. Walking across and opening it, he found himself face-to-face with the Sandaime Hokage. "Hokage-sama," he said formally.

Sarutobi frowned at his tone, "Naruto, I would like you to come to my office and tell me what you've been up to."

Naruto scowled, "I'm not a Konoha shinobi; you hold no power over me."

"Naruto, I must insist you tell me where you have been for the last five years."

Naruto gave the man an unpleasant smile, "Training. Somewhere I learnt some rather useful information. Tell me, why did you never tell me who my father was; why did you never tell me my mother was still alive and why did you not let her take me with her when she left the village?"

Sarutobi sighed, "You know?"

Naruto scowled, "You lied to me, Hokage-sama. You lied to me. You told me you had no idea who my father was _and _you told me my mother was dead. Two lies. You would have deprived me of my inheritance."

Sarutobi frowned, "I wouldn't. I would've waited until you were a jōnin before telling you and giving you your father's legacy."

Naruto raised his eyebrows, "So… instead of doing the right thing, which would've been allowing my mother to take me to the place where I belonged, where I would've had a nice childhood, you kept me here, where I spent seven and a half years having the crap beaten out of me and didn't even tell me the reason. That doesn't sound like the actions of a man who cared about me at all, more like the actions of a man who wanted to ensure he had his weapon close by in case it was needed."

Sarutobi scowled now, "You're just a…"

"I am _not_ a child. I am Naruto Uzumaki, the Cerulean Wyvern and champion of the Uzumaki clan, as well as the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox and I _will _be treated as an adult."

Sarutobi scrutinized the boy for a few minutes before sighing and saying, "Very well, don't think you have heard the last of this, Naruto."

Naruto gave him a thin smile, "I don't doubt that I haven't. Until that time, however, I will say _goodbye_, Hokage-sama."

He shut the door in the Hokage's face and walked back into the sitting room, dropping into a chair.

"Are you alright, Naruto-sama?" came Manami's worried voice from the kitchen area.

"Yes, just wondering when the Konoha shinobi will leave me alone. I wonder, was it a good idea to come back here? Maybe we should've waited another six months."

Hikaru wandered in, stretching slightly. He had divested himself of his cloak, revealing the same black bodysuit and blue-grey flak jacket as Naruto. Scowling slightly, he frowned at his master, "Naruto-sama, you were the one who wanted to come here. Kushina-sama warned us that the Konoha shinobi might be a little worried that you had returned, so why are you surprised?"

Manami wandered in, nodding quietly before suddenly stopping and concentrating. In one fluid motion, she drew a kunai and hurled it at the ceiling, "Get the hell out of here!"

There was a pause, then soft footsteps from above. Hikaru scowled, understanding what his sister had caught, "It figures they would have ANBU spying on us since we're from a different village. I wonder if they did this with the other villages? Or maybe it's just us since we're Naruto-sama's group?"

Nobody answered him. They were all thinking the same answer; _yes_.

-TCW-

Naruto, Hikaru and Manami arrived outside the building where the first test was to take place to find the twelve Konoha genin gathered outside. Tenten smiled when she saw him approaching, to which he grinned back and winked.

As he turned away, Tenten plucked a kunai from her pocket and tossed it at him. He caught it without even turning around, noticing as he lowered his hand that there was a sheet of paper wrapped around the handle. Unrolling it, he found five words.

COULD WE SPAR SOMETIME, MAYBE?

He smirked, turned just enough to look at her with one eye, and nodded quietly. He caught her grin widening as the three Uzu-nin headed for the door into the centre.

"Tenten-san?" asked Rock Lee.

"Yes, Lee-san?" the bun-haired girl replied.

"Do you and the Uzumaki know each other?"

Tenten looked down at the floor for a second before she replied, "He is somebody I knew back in the orphanage, before I was adopted. When I was adopted, I looked for him often, but I never found him. At least, I looked whenever my family allowed, which was never. I often wondered, if I'd been able to find him just after I was adopted, he might not have disappeared. In fact, something I realized after a while was that he might have ended up on this team with us… I'm not sure who he might have replaced if he had though…"

Lee frowned slightly, an effect which was massively enhanced by his large eyebrows, "Do you like him?"

Tenten sighed, "I don't know, Lee. I just don't know. I might end up liking him, I might not. At the moment, however…"

Lee slid a green-clad arm around her shoulders, "You know you can always talk to me about this, right?"

Tenten smiled, "Nobody could ever know how that youthful thing is just a façade, could they?"

Lee smirked; an expression that was nothing like his usual broad and blinding grin, "Why, Tenten-san, how could you insinuate that me and Gai-sensei are pulling the wool over the eyes of everybody?"

Tenten laughed, "Easily, Lee-san. Now let's get going, alright?"

Lee smirked and then gave his blinding grin, "Yosh! Let us be going, so that we may display our youthful knowledge in the first exam!"

-TCW-

Naruto, Hikaru and Manami were standing in line. Naruto knew that Hikaru and Manami were a unique pair; they had a kekkei genkai which allowed pairs of twins in their family to share thoughts. Manami being an insanely smart girl, she should have no problems with what they were about to do. Hikaru, by extension, could find out the answers by her sending them to him. Naruto, meanwhile, had to find another way to get his answers. His plan, he had explained to them, centred around the small demonstration he had made to the Konoha genin with his chakra dragon. An interesting little fact he had discovered with his chakra familiar, and the Uzumaki had done extensive research into this since the fall of Uzushiogakure no Sato, was that when disconnected from its supply of chakra, the dragon would turn almost invisible, and since it was a chakra construct, it was effectively weightless. The only problem with this technique, the only thing preventing it from being the _perfect_ spying strategy, was that when it was disconnected from its supply of chakra, the familiar only lasted a few seconds before it dissipated. Naruto had got around this by combining the chakra control aspect of his Rasengan training with the chakra familiar. When the Rasengan was completed, it was a self-sustaining jutsu, therefore when Naruto created several chakra dragons, they all headed off to climb up people's legs almost instantly.

-TCW-

Temari noticed an odd whirring sound near her ear, but thought nothing of it as she continued to scribble her answers down. Ten seats down, Gaara had found the little chakra creature seated on his shoulder with his sand and crushed it.

-TCW-

Naruto winced as he received the memories from that particular familiar. On the bright side, he _had_ succeeded in getting the first answer off the Suna genin before he caught on.

To be continued…


End file.
